The Broncos Optimists Club

Ok, so just when I was feeling like all of the Optimist had been slowly drained from me, the Broncos go and kick start a new era. Thanks, Bowlen! Really!

Josh McDaniels is the fresh (YOUNG!) face of this new era. The 12th head coach of the Denver Broncos. I don't know a lot about McDaniels, but you gotta admire his ambition and tenacity to the game and to his career. And I watched him talk on the news last night. My first impression was, "hmm ... he sounds like Eric Taylor on FNL." Which is a good thing. A VERY good thing, at least in my little unimportant corner of the world. My second impression was that he's going to try very hard to enjoy some success, and that's also a very good thing - but in a larger corner of the world.

The Broncos have been sapping my energy and my money. I was never one to call for the firing of Shanahan, but now that it has happened, I can see that it was the right thing to do. We need a new start. And we've got one. Should be interesting!

My dad used to get so hyped up for the start of football season that he would actually begin a countdown weeks prior to training camp. In those days, conversations with dad would go something like this:

Dad: Peggy?
Me: Yeah, Dad?
Dad: 12 days, 8 hours and 20 minutes.
Me: Huh?
Dad: 12 days, 8 hours and .... 19 minutes.
Me: (with quizzical look) 12 days, 8 hours and 19 minutes what?
Dad: Until Broncos training camp. (SMILES)
Me: (rolls eyes) SIGH!

After all these years, I owe dad an apology. For the eye rolling, for the sighing, for just not getting it.

Daddy, I get it now. Football season is upon us. Football season! Screw the Christmas song - Football Season is the Most! Wonderful! Time of the Year!

Maybe I'm looking more forward to this season because I was otherwise occupied last season (i.e. - either pregnant or nursing a newborn). Maybe I'm excited because the Broncos have made some unpredictable changes during this offseason. Maybe my excitement stems from our gradually maturing and talented young team. But more than likely, I think I've just finally caught on to the excitement my dad had back in the day.

Football season means fun, and competition, and excitement, and busy Sundays, and parties, and good food, and tailgating, and Mile Hi stadium, and cheering, and jeering, and flyovers, and laughter, and white knuckles, and slow motion replays, and timeclocks, and jerseys, and clapping so hard your hands hurt, and hating some football announcers and loving others, and football pools, and family contests, and just GOOD TIMES. Some of the best times I've ever had with my friends and family have been around football. Why not get excited!?

Season '08. Go!

Well - it's only a week post-season, but I'm already suffering from football withdrawal. Although we didn't post much this year (guess even the optimists didn't have much to say about our losing season!), we're definitely still big fans!

This year WAS a rebuilding year for the team, and for the Broncos Optimists Club. We added a new optimist to our club (see picture above). She was born smack-dab in the middle of the season. We knew she was going to be a big Broncos fan when we found out her due date was right around the bye week. Thanks baby! Mommy and Daddy didn't even miss one game!

We're all looking forward to next year. The team is building and maturing. I think we will see the re-emergence of the AFC West as a competitive division. Well, that is if the Oakland Raiders actually can accomplish something with the talent they've accumulated and if the Kansas City Chiefs can pull it together. San Diego has to deal with their heartbreak in the playoffs again, but that gives them drive. The Broncos show promise, especially in some of our younger players. And change in the O-line and defense are all good things.

Already looking forward to training camp -

The Optimist.

Whoo Hoo!

Click here to see the schedule.

Last night (Saturday), Scott and I went to his company party. It was a festive affair, held at the new Adams Family Mystery Dinner theater in north Denver. We watched and were part of a fun mystery show, that had us guessing who the "murderer" was in a staged event set up specifically for the folks who worked for Scott's company. It was cute. It was fun.

At some point in the evening, the company's actors asked different individuals to stand up and read the clues that they found around the place. The clues were set-ups; they were simple notes found around tables at the party that gave the guests additional information about the mystery we were supposed to be unravelling.

The show was part mystery theater, and part improvisational roast for the owner of the company. Scott's boss is in retail and is VERY well known to people in Denver, (especially those who know where one-half mile east of I-25 on Emporia Street is), and those in SF, and ATL, and Minneapolis, and Portland, and Louisville, and Salt Lake and, well, anyway ... The improv roast bit included much chiding and kidding and making fun of co-workers. It was part of the bit, ya' know?

Oh, I forgot to mention that Scott's boss brought his 7-year old daughter to the show ...

Anyway, the company's actors at some point in the evening asked Scott's boss' daughter to read the clue found by the folks at her table. I think I already mentioned she is 7-years old. Did I also mention that her dad is a multi-millionaire and that she attends the BEST schools available to her on the Front Range? Did I mention that she's a bright and wonderful child?

The mystery company's actors asked this wonderful 7-year old girl to stand up in front of her father's ENTIRE corporate body of employees and read the clue found by everyone at her table. She read it. She read in an absolutely stellar 7-year old kind of way. She worked her way through the words she didn't know. She sounded them out, in that phonics, school-yard kind of way. She squinted with concentration, then very cutely giggled after she worked through a particularly hard part. In other words, she did a STELLAR job for a newbie reader. She got to identify the suspect she thought was guilty. She was wrong. Most of us knew it. But, she got a huge ovation, in spite of stumbling over a few words and guessing the obvious, and obviously wrong, suspect. Everyone at the party knew that that we were watching a little girl who would Wow! people one day. She is a bright, apt, and capable young person. She has the capabilities, the inherited privledge, and the optimistic desire to do well. And she will do well.

Why do I mention this on a Denver Broncos NFL Blog? Umm ... well, I don't think I have to say it, but I will ...

Tonight's game against San Diego ... it was tough. It is obvious that San Diego is THE team with their ducks in a row. It seems to be "their" year. They've been planning this. They are ready. They know exactly what they are doing at this point in the season. Their game plan is superior, their roster is incredible, they are ready in ways that the Broncos are NOT yet ready.

But watching some of Cutler's passes tonight, especially in the third quarter, reminded me of young Miss Scott's Boss' daughter. Like that little girl, Cutler shows so much promise.

The game? Disappointing. But this year, disappointing doesn't feel quite as bad as a fan, because this year, I think that the team is investing in a future that will be rewarding.

Just like watching a 7-year old girl read a difficult paragraph in front of a room full of adults ... Or watching a rookie NFL quarterback pass a football to a receiver like a thread through a needle and pull a lost team from zero to something, even if for a short while ...

Not every syllable is exactly correct, but in reaching for that which is the most challenging, the young Miss, and the young Rookie, gave us all something to smile about - for a Saturday evening, or a Sunday afternoon, or HECK - maybe even an entire off-season.

I'm not writing the Broncos off, but I guess that part of me is trying to say that NOT making the playoffs this year is OK. It's OK because we are building something to be proud of.

A future worth cheering for ...

Geebuz people! Can you believe the kind of pressure young master Jay Cutler is under today? Can you imagine what it would be like to be a young rookie facing your first start in a regular season NFL game? (You know, the kind that counts!?) Can you imagine what it would be like if the city and the fans of that NFL team expected you to be the second-coming of Elway? <---- you should hear a chorus of angels singing at this point of the blog, and maybe even a gold aura around the name ...

I'll admit, I'm excited too. I even will admit that about 60 seconds after I was aware that I was awake this morning, I thought, "Wow. I wonder what Jay Cutler is feeling/thinking right now ..." And then of course I caught myself and thought, "Ok, Peg! On to real life, please?!"

But then, I turn on the morning news, and every aspect of the local broadcast is about tonight's game. Commercials in between the broadcast pump us up with expectations. It is kind of electric, really. It's the spark WE needed ... as fans.

Let's just hope he's the spark that the team needs tonight on the field.

Let the Cutler era begin ...

I have a secret to tell you. Come closer. Over here, where no one else can hear us. Are you ready for this? Brace yourself ...

I don't think that I am a very optimistic person.

There. I said it. I almost feel better.

You see, I had the opportunity to watch Thursday night's game against KC with the ONE true optimist the Broncos have left ... my sister, Boston Beans. Her optimism borders on, well, you know I love ya, Beans, but your optimism can be classified somewhere between entertaining and manic and crazy-annoying. (Not crazy-delicious like Red Vines, though.) Anyway, the bottom line here is that Bonnie's optimism drove home a pt that I've been meaning to make for, well - over a year now. That point is ... I don't think I'm an optimist. (There - I said it AGAIN. I really am starting to feel better.)

After the game (the depressing, pathetic, leaves-a-nasty-taste-in-your-mouth game), I thought long and hard about what it means to be a Broncos Optimist. It was a struggle, but in the end, a good exercise. Here's what I labored up:

• There isn't really a definable profile of the Optimist. We range from Beans, to Reenie, to me, and to Scott, and Mitchell, who I am sure were muttering quite a few discouraging words on Thursday Night. The one trait that binds us together is our desire to see the Broncos play well - and the enjoyment we get out of being fans.
• It's ok to despair. Despair doesn't equal Discard. Who better to fret about the team than the Optimists!? What fans have better intentions than the Optimists? We can curse a player, a call, a quarter, a game - because we know that we'll be the ones rooting the team on next game, next season ...
• Sometimes the only optimistic thing a fan can say about a particularly bad game is, "It was a beautiful, sunshiney day." And that's OK. (Thanks Maureen ... I'll never forget that one.)
• It isn't mean-spirited to wish the bench on Jake Plummer ... (or Jake on the bench, actually - heh). He's not having a good year. Last year may have been the pinnacle of his career. He's given us some great games, and some tough losses. Plummer has been a decent QB. And now it's time for him to step aside and allow the future to step up.

And that future looks to be Jay Cutler. I'm anxiously anticipating the "Breaking News" email I'm sure to get at some point today that will announce Cutler in the starting position. It's what the team needs. Cutler will bring a level of excitement to the team.

(Heh heh - it just ocurred to me that Cutler will bring Optimism back to the Broncos. I don't think we could ask for much more at this point in time.)

I am excited to be at next Sunday night's game. Just for kicks, I just now looked up the definition of the word optimism. Optimism defined: An inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.

Hmmm... Maybe I am an optimist, because when I think about Cutler taking the field, I anticipate a very favorable outcome, but can also anticipate that he won't always have great days/games/seasons. The team needs a spark. And right now, Cutler is that spark. Bring it on.

(Oh, and thanks for the comment, MP! It's good to know you're still in the fold.)